


i'll search the universe until i can find you again

by strawberryjunhee



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-04-30 13:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14498001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryjunhee/pseuds/strawberryjunhee
Summary: Junhee used to travel alone. He used to travel to a planet in distress, solve the problem and leave without a trace. That normality was broken when he got two sidekicks. They helped combat the occasional loneliness that Junhee would feel. Other than those two, he shouldn't get close to anyone else. He can't.He won't.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title: "Universe" by EXO

"What kind of _idiot_ goes 'That is a radioactive squirrel slowly breaking through the barrier over the only town in this ENTIRE planet that hasn't been killed by said radiation.....I'm going to let it in and have it breed with other squirrels, therefore eliminating my entire species!" Byeongkwan exclaimed, his arms flailing around the time-traveling machine. 

"Their species was destined to die out anyways" Sehyoon explained. "You saw how high the inbreeding crisis was. If the radiation didn't kill them, a deadly genetic mutation would have eventually".

"We could helped them still" Byeongkwan argued. "If we could have received the distress signal sooner maybe we could have taken- I don't know! Jun, help me out here".

Junhee had no interest in joining the conversation and ignored the plea. Sehyoon let out a sigh. "The thinning of their atmosphere had impacted their technological advancements massively Kwannie. By the time they developed something that could emit sound waves to be picked up by Woojik, the radiation already spread to half of the population".

"I'm just surprised you aren't asking why there was a squirrel on an alien planet," Junhee said. Byeongkwan's eyes furrowed and he seemed to genuinely consider the question. "A spaceship went off course and crashed into that planet".

"Squirrels can survive anything" Byeongkwan muttered, voice filled with awe.

"Expect getting run over by a car".

The room was met by silence after that. Sehyoon was reading a book Junhee got him the last time Woojik traveled to earth. Byeongkwan was eating some chips. Junhee was scanning the surrounding planets for anything awry. "I think we are clear for this zone".

"We can finally take a break?" Byeongkwan proposed. 

"Break? No one makes you work Byeongkwan" Sehyoon pointed out, rolling his eyes. 

"You and Junhee-hyung will make me feel guilty if I don't help out" Byeongkwan replied. 

"We deserve a break" Junhee cut in, god, he was so used to traveling alone that those two drove him nuts sometimes. "We should all sleep and then decide what to do tomorrow" the fatigue from their last mission was settling in already. "Then we can get in a proper meal or two instead of chips and candies".

"Drop by Earth?" Sehyoon suggested. Junhee held back a sigh. Not going back to Earth was much more preferable but...

"Yeah, yeah. It could always use saving".

Byeongkwan and Sehyoon wished him a goodnight before returning to their own rooms. Junhee fell onto his bed the second the door closed. He could have saved some people. Sure, he could have gotten infected, but he was a human. Barely worth anything in the grand scheme of things. Then again, neither were those aliens in truth. Junhee provided them a painless death, which is more than they could have asked for. That radiation would have given them an agonizingly slow death. 

Maybe the fact that he was going to return to Earth tomorrow was making his brain go into overdrive. It shouldn't. He was  _from_ Earth. Raised on there until his father entrusted him with Woojik, the beautiful machine that can travel to space and in between the human construct of time in a second when he was 14. Maybe he can do more searching and maybe he can find...

No.

He can't do that again. It was wishful thinking. And he didn't need to get Sehyoon or Byeongkwan worried about him. Going to Earth won't be terrible, he can restock on strawberry yogurt. And the promise of Red Combo chicken lingered in the air. They did deserve a break. Planets needed saving and most of the time, Junhee, and the others succeed in saving them. Others are far past saving. Or they are a trap. A lot of people want to kill Junhee actually. Humans aren't supposed to interfere with time after all. His father got permission to obtain Woojik and that took years. 

Woojik needed a small break too. "What do you say? Want to head to Earth Woo?" No response. Junhee would be terrified if there was.

 

"Junhee-ah? You have to get up now" Sehyoon's voice lulled him out of sleep. It felt like he only slept for a second. "It's dangerous to leave Woojik out in the open like this".

Junhee yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "M' up now". Sehyoon examined him for a minute.

"Did you have a good sleep last night?" Junhee shrugged in response. "Did you have nightmares again? You know, if you have them you can just come to Byeongkwan or-"

"I'm fine hyung, you don't need to baby me" Junhee whined.

Sehyoon waved him off. "Head to the main room once you're up. Byeongkwan is getting angsty". Junhee nodded.

Junhee flopped back onto his bed, the warm covers tempting him to just crawl back in and sleep some more. Sleep was precious. Somedays they barely got any sleep because the entire universe seemed like it needed saving. Any chance Junhee got to sleep more than 2 hours, he took it. Sometimes, nightmares intervened and Junhee wouldn't get any sleep. Those nights he would meditate and sometimes fall back asleep. Most of the time he didn't though.

After a few minutes, Junhee finally got up. Humming as he got dressed, which, in a way, was semi-pointless. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan have seen him naked before. It was inevitable. Junhee couldn't look them both in the eye for the next week but that went away after a bit.

The main room was comprised of a fridge, two couches, and the control panels of the machine. There are a few crates filled with books, snacks or little figurines from planets or time periods that they visit also litter the floor. 3 of those crates had been there before Sehyoon and Byeongkwan joined in. Junhee hasn't looked at them and hid them well enough that he forgot where they were.

"Did you guys not sleep in?" Junhee asked. 

"We did, you just slept the most" Byeongkwan replied. Sehyoon nodded in agreement. "So when we get to Earth, what's the plan?"

Junhee walked towards the mainframe, scanning the screens for any oncoming attacks. Alien life forms could attack the ship if it was too close to their home planet. Woojik doesn't take much damage but there have been a few close calls. "It'll take a few minutes since we are in an entirely different solar system".

"Should we orbit it a few times? Just to make sure they aren't any problems beforehand" Earth was much prettier from space. "Sehyoon-hyung, you remember the distance we have to be from it right? So NASA doesn't detect anything abnormal?"

"We don't need to repeat last time" Byeongkwan muttered. There was a lot of screaming and they lost 2 boxes of cereal from Sehyoon's stress eating. Junhee cringed at the memory.

"I have it written down" Sehyoon confirmed. 

"5 minutes to enter the Milky Way, we should spend 10 minutes making sure there are no distress signals-"

"And if there is one, we can relax AFTER we did what had to be done" Sehyoon stated, glaring slightly at Byeongkwan. 

"-Then we get chicken and restock on food" Junhee finished, satisfied with the plan. 

Silence usually fills the ship. It's a comfortable silence, at least Junhee thinks it is. He looks around and notices the small little trinkets that Byeongkwan and Sehyoon have left. "You guys have made this place grossly domestic".

Junhee had landed in the city of Seoul in South Korea, knowing fully that there was an alien about. Junhee was wandering through small alleyways, trying to get a lead when he heard two screams. A giant crab was attacking the two of them. No, there wasn't "a giant crab running about. It was an alien that had put on a convincing vessel, had a malfunction and Sehyoon pointed it out. Alien freaks out, vessel glitches to a giant crab and doesn't want any witnesses. Junhee had grabbed the two of them, yanking them into the safety of Woojik. Byeongkwan was freaking out, asking Junhee a billion questions. Sehyoon was trying to calm the younger down and thanking Junhee excessively. Junhee ended up shooting the crab once he lured it into the countryside.

Originally, the plan was to drop the two off at their apartment once the entire ordeal was over. Byeongkwan stared at him in disbelief once Junhee attempted to do that. 

"Are you insane? Do you expect us to live normally after what we saw?"

Long story short, Junhee was roped into taking the two in. Initially, the two of them were too terrified to breathe next to anything, scared of breaking or damaging the ship. Now, they knew how to repair something if Woojik got damaged. 

"You should be thanking us" Byeongkwan laughed. 

"Did you always travel alone Jun?" Sehyoon questioned. Junhee let out a shaky breath, of course, he didn't. Junhee craves companionship. Wants someone to talk to that doesn't have 2 heads or a tail. But there was too much risk now. His personality has changed a lot because of the deprivation, too much.

"No" Junhee replied shortly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Byeongkwan and Sehyoon exchange a look. "They are gone now though, so no need to worry". Gone. 

"We aren't going anywhere hyung, so don't worry" Byeongkwan grinned. Famous last words.

Woojik sometimes transported them to a random location if the machine felt something was wrong. It was weird. Junhee's father tried to fix the problem but came up emptyhanded. 

"I mean, Woo has transported us to worse places than this" Sehyoon said, gesturing towards the rows of oranges. 

"At least in those areas, we can see what's wrong" Junhee grumbled. "What can be wrong with an orange farm?". 

"Woojik had to have a reason to transport us here" Byeongkwan reminded. What could be the reason though? An orange farm? Unless the oranges have some strange life form in them, Junhee was lost. "Let's look around. If there isn't anything, we can still get some oranges".

"Do you care about anything other than food?" Junhee teased. 

"Nope".

After five minutes of walking around, Junhee was already getting restless. He never stayed on a planet for more than a day. God, he can't imagine going back to a normal life after everything. He has been at this for 9 years now. The idea of settling down and having a family entered his mind occasionally. Junhee then gets the reminder that he can't stay still for more than a minute without growing bored. Besides, there was so much more of the universe to explore. Earth was boring now.

"Was Woojik just fucking with us?" Byeongkwan hissed. 

"Probably" Junhee muttered. 

"There has to be something here" Sehyoon protested, crossing his arms. "Every single place it transports us to has  _something_ , no matter how small." Junhee was about to argue with that, Woojik can have some nasty tricks sometimes. Junhee once landed in the middle of the ocean. That wasn't pleasant. "There's a cabin up on that hill, maybe there is something there."

"Or we can get out of here and go eat chicken" Byeongkwan responded. Both of them turned to Junhee. This was a dangerous situation. Junhee was never good at picking sides in their arguments.

Junhee looked at the oldest, "if we go up there and there's nothing, you are paying for everything."

"Deal."

Byeongkwan pouted. 

 

A kid with a bowl cut answered the door. "Hi! How may I help you?."

Junhee wasn't exactly sure what to say, 'My time machine sent us here for no reason so I was just wondering if you had any aliens in your household?'. "My friends and I got lost, I was just wondering if you could tell us where we are?" Smooth Junhee.

The kid blinked at them. "You are kind of in the middle of nowhere, to be honest," Junhee made a mental note to check Woojik's wiring once he got back. "And there is a storm coming soon, the nearest town is 45 minutes away" What the hell Woojik? "You can stay here until it passes!"

"That's not necessary, we wouldn't want to burden you," Sehyoon said immediately.

"It's fine!" The kid reassured, already beckoning them inside. "I'm Yuchan by the way".

"I'm Junhee, that's Sehyoon and Byeongkwan" Junhee greeted. The cabin was semi-spacious for having such a small exterior.

"How did you guys get lost?" Yuchan asked. 

Junhee gave Sehyoon a helpless glance. "We were on a...roadtrip..and our GPS went haywire" Real convincing. Yuchan didn't press on though.

Yuchan offered them all water. Junhee took it gratefully, his throat felt tighter than normal. "I think my friend has a map..I'll go ask! Donghun-".

Heart beating much faster than it should, Junhee forced himself to calm down. There are plenty of people named Donghun. No need to panic. Not in front of everyone. Even if it was Donghun, Junhee would still act normal, even if he had to force himself to.

"Jun-ah? Are you feeling okay?" Sehyoon couldn't see him like this. Neither could Byeongkwan. "Did you see something?"

"I'm fine" Junhee forced out. He drank some water, swallowing the lump that was starting to form in his throat.

"-wondering if you had something to show them where they are" Junhee looked up at the sound of Yuchan's voice, expecting to see a face next to Yuchan's that he has never seen before. A face that he will forget once they leave this place. He didn't.

Instead, Junhee locked eyes with Lee Donghun. 

_His Donghun._

No, not his. Never was his and never will be. Junhee choked on his water. His chest was already burning and he felt tears start to build up.

His Donghun. The one with a sharp tongue and sad eyes. Sad eyes that Junhee could stare into for hours and never grow bored. Sad eyes that almost convinced Junhee to stop traveling because who needed to travel the universe when the person in front of you had it trapped in their eyes? 

God.

_This_ was the reason Woojik transported them here. Not because of any aliens or anyone interfering with time, but because the universe hated Junhee and forced him to...

To accept the fact that Donghun has probably moved on. And that Junhee will never get him back.

A small part of him refused to believe that. Donghun was great at hiding his emotions, better than Junhee-well everyone was better than Junhee when it came to that. When Junhee saw him, there was no hint that Donghun recognized him. Junhee's physical appearance hadn't changed that much since they last saw each other. Junhee had lost a bit of weight but that was about it. Maybe got a bit more miserable..that was it though.

Junhee would have preferred if Donghun recognized him. He could handle the awkward stares and tension. He couldn't-refused to believe that Donghun doesn't remember anything. All those adventures and memories are gone.

Finally, air entered his lungs properly. Junhee opened his eyes and saw Sehyoon and Byeongkwan eye-level with him. 

Inhale.

Exhale.

Junhee gave a shaky smile, "sorry, the water went down the wrong way".

Yuchan looked slightly relieved that Junhee didn't actually drop dead. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan didn't look like they believed a word he said.

Junhee could only hope that the storm would end soon.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unwanted memories come back to Junhee.

Junhee ended up talking to Yuchan a lot. His father owned a tangerine farm and he was staying in a nearby cabin. Yuchan and Byeongkwan clicked easily, like long lost brothers. Sehyoon and Donghun did as well, making small talk. Junhee kept a polite conversation going while glancing around outside. This could be dangerous, staying in this one area for more than an hour or two. Woojik usually senses danger and zaps Junhee back into the ship before he could get hurt. Problem was, Woojik only got  _Junhee_ back into the ship. Not Byeongkwan or Sehyoon, who was in the same amount of danger as he was.  Both of them had to be close enough to Junhee for Woojik to realize it wasn't an enemy. 

The ship was only built for one person initially. Maybe a guest or two. Keyword: guest. Someone who stays for a little bit but not permanently. And once Woojik got adapted to having someone around, they left. That wasn't important right now.

"This is one of the nicer storms we've been in" Byeongkwan whispered to him. Junhee glanced at the downpour outside. You couldn't even see anything. "We got pummeled by rocks once." Space was a weird place.

Donghun turned towards Sehyoon. "What do you guys do?" Sehyoon looked at Junhee. He was supposed to be the one who came up with all the lies but right now, talking to Donghun was the last thing he wanted to do. "It's just weird, most guys don't wander into a random orange farm."

"We're mechanics" Byeongkwan blurted out. Junhee held back a disappointed sigh. With how much they have to fix Woojik sometimes, they could be considered mechanics. But, seriously, why say that? If they were on a random planet, Junhee could allow it to fly. This was Earth, however. And although they don't come back often, they come back often enough that if they mess up, someone can recognize them. That would be a pain to explain. "Fix cars up and stuff." Sehyoon visibly tensed at the questioning looks from Yuchan and Donghun. "It was getting a bit stuffy, so we decided to go for a road trip!" Junhee was already planning a lecture in his head for Byeongkwan.

 

The silence that followed afterward was suffocating. Junhee was shifting in his seat. This was boring!

"Can you tell me where your bathroom is?" Junhee asked, already getting up from his seat.

"Down the hall to your right" Yuchan told him. Junhee nodded and headed off.

He needed to get out of that suffocating room. Junhee glanced around the hall. A few picture frames and art pieces were hung up. Pretty standard actually. Junhee entered the bathroom, glancing at the small window above the sink. If he looked hard enough, there was a blue sky behind a wall of grey clouds. That must be the storm's end. It was moving really slowly. Junhee swore he could hear the wind howling outside.

A closer examination of the storm's border revealed that it wasn't moving at all. In addition, it was only over their cabin, spreading slightly to the vegetation on the left. Junhee's brain supplied two explanations.

1\. It's a weird-ass storm

2\. Something or someone found out they were here and wants to kill Junhee.

Both weren't ideal.

"Byeongkwan! Sehyoon! Get over here!" Junhee yelled. Hopefully, the walls were thin. Junhee ran out of the bathroom. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan were in front of him, looking like they were ready to burst out running any second. 

"What's wrong?" Sehyoon breathed. "We thought you were getting murdered with how loud you yelled!"

"Did Junhee-hyung get scared? Was there a small little bug in the bathroom?" Byeongkwan mocked. Junhee rolled his eyes.

"The storm is only above this cabin," Junhee muttered, suddenly aware of Donghun and Yuchan being so close by. "We have to get out  _now."  
_

"Are you okay Junhee?" Donghun called out. Junhee flinched at the sound of his name. Get a grip Park.

"Yes!" Junhee hurried, walking towards the front door. "Thank you for your hospitality but we really have to go now."

"The storm isn't even over yet," Yuchan said. "You'll get drenched out there"

"We'll be fine, thank you again" Junhee brushed off. He was about to reach for the doorknob before the door flew open. A girl stood in front, eyes wild. Junhee was about to say something but the girl rushed into the cabin before slamming the door shut.

"Don't go out there" The girl cried out. "Y-You won't-"

"Calm down" Sehyoon soothed, giving a panicked look to Byeongkwan. "What's going on?"

"I didn't mean to do anything" The girl was full on sobbing now. "I didn't know! I just wanted t-to get-"

Donghun and Yuchan looked lost. Byeongkwan looked stressed out, which isn't common. Sehyoon kept on looking at Junhee, waiting for him to take charge. Junhee was just trying to get a minimal grip on the situation. "Okay..it's fine, no one is going to blame you." Junhee glanced out the window again. "Can you explain what is going on?"

"You wouldn't believe me" The girl croaked. Junhee held back a laugh, He has traveled to planets where the surface was covered with diamonds, where the volcanoes have eruptions that shoot high above the surface, and where you could see glass whipping in the air at inhuman speeds. Byeongkwan and Sehyoon have only seen a fraction of what space holds. No one has seen as much as Junhee has, at least no human. 

Donghun d-

"Try me" Junhee challenged. The girl looked reluctant before sighing. She pulled out a watch. Junhee's blood turned cold. They stopped making those types of watches  _millenniums_ ago. How could someone get that? "Where did you get that...how-when"

"It's a watch, what's so special about it?" Yuchan questioned. Byeongkwan rose an eyebrow at him. 

"You know about this stuff?" The girl sounded relieved. "My mom gave it to me, said it lets you travel back in time-"

"And you believe her?" Donghun scoffed. "Time travel, even if it's possible, won't be around for a long time."

"No one asked you" Junhee threw back. Donghun looked like he was about to protest but Yuchan shushed him. "And you did travel back in time, I'm assuming." The girl nodded. "What happened after?"

"I just wanted to find her an old book, one that we lost in our old house" The girl whimpered "So I did, but I saw myself, as a baby-" Oh no, Junhee had a feeling of where this was going. "And then I saw my mom, she touched me and then I was transported back here."

"Now there are weird creatures trying to kill me..." A paradox. Simple and clear. The way to solve it was brutal. She would have to die probably. Either by her own hands or Junhee's. "I don't know what to do." There was another option, but...

"Did you end up actually taking the book?" Junhee inquired. 

"Yes."

"Burn it" 

Byeongkwan choked. Junhee bit his lip, they probably didn't have much time. "I can't!"

"You either do that or you have to die" Junhee stated. His voice sounded so hollow, when did that happen.

"It was my mother's most prized possession, she was crushed when it disappeared." The girl begged

Junhee froze at the choice of words. 

 

_The smell of alcohol and chicken wings filled the air. Junhee was sitting at the bar, watching a soccer game. Donghun was sitting next to him, probably drunk and talking to some girl. The elder begged him to go back to Earth for a day. Junhee obliged, in exchange for cuddles. the most prized currency. It was Earth yes, but far in the future. The bar was something of a memorial to the old ways. Rich people love it._

_"You must have a lot of possessions from all the places you travel" A woman laughed, sipping on clear liquid. "What's your most prized one?"_

_"My most prized possession?" Donghun repeated, his voice slurred from the soju. Junhee had no desire for alcohol. He was the designated driver anyways. Woojik didn't need to have a driver but it helped. Donghun tapped his shoulder. Junhee turned, seeing a very drunk Donghun. "Him." The woman cooed, Junhee's face went hot._

_"You are drunk hyung," Junhee stated, brushing off the invisible dust from his sweater._

_"Shame, I was hoping to get him for myself" The woman sighed. Junhee shrunk from the sudden attention. He was much better at interacting with aliens._

_"Sorry to disappoint" Donghun replied in mock sympathy._

Junhee bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. "It doesn't matter, either you get rid of it or those creatures kill everyone in this cabin." Maybe not him. No, those creatures would probably recognize him. Torture him with some sadistic punishment. Just to get back at Junhee for everything he has done. 

"Do you have no sympathy?" Yuchan gasped "There has to be another way."

"But there isn't," Sehyoon said. The doorknob rattled incessantly. "You have to do something, who knows what the consequences will be if you don't."

She turned to Junhee. "You know about this kind of stuff, can't you do something?"

 _Something?_ Junhee's hands were tied. He couldn't do anything without the risk of being killed. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Talk to them" The girl answered. Junhee looked at the door. There was a massive chance he could be killed if he opened the door. Or tortured. Or anything really. "Please!" God, why did he have to get involved with this? If they didn't go to Earth, none of this would happen. He wouldn't be in an unnecessary life or death situation. His thinking wouldn't have been muddled because he saw Donghun.

"Junhee?" Byeongkwan's voice snapped him out of his self-pity. Junhee took a deep breath before swinging the door open.

Rain hit him full force in the face. Junhee jumped back at the freezing rain. There was nothing but rain for a minute. Finally, a figure appeared. 

"Hi Haykyeon," Junhee greeted like this was a normal occurrence. "What brings you here?"

Hakyeon seemed surprised to see Junhee here. On Earth to be specific. "You aren't dim Junhee, you know why I'm here." Junhee gave a small shrug. "Hand the girl over, it's for the best. You know what will happen if you don't." An infinite paradox. "No one else has to get hurt, and you can go back to Woojik-"

"And what happens if we don't?" Donghun interrupted. Hakyeon's eyes widened slightly and he gave a small look towards Junhee. "If you kill any of us, I doubt it will go unnoticed"

"You would be surprised," Hakyeon yawned "If necessary, we could drown this entire country if it means not raising suspicion."

"You think drowning a country wouldn't raise suspicion?" Yuchan muttered.

"With how your climate is going, I doubt it" 

Well, this was going great. "What advantage would it bring to keep this...girl alive?"

"You get to be a decent person." Yuchan offered. 

"Keeping a human alive would make me a great person?" Hakyeon scorned "Humans are insignificant, little creatures on one small planet in the entirety of this un-"

"Hakyeon-hyung," Junhee interrupted, giving the elder puppy eyes. Hakyeon sighed.

"Let's talk outside"

 

The rain didn't stop, but the area surrounding Hakyeon just seemed to repel the rain. It was odd, seeing blue skies all around but being covered with grey clouds. He knew what Hakyeon's first question would be. Honestly, Junhee wasn't sure if he knew how to answer it properly. He has barely processed the information himself. Donghun seemed clueless about time travel now.

Donghun was clueless at the beginning. Constantly inquiring about everything. Initially, Junhee almost threw him off Woojik into Venus. The elder almost provoked an entire alien race with kimchi. Long story...

Did Donghun forget everything? Every single late night talk, every single planet they ever visited, every single time period, every single k-

"I wasn't expecting to see him." Junhee admitted, "I am just as shocked as you are." Hakyeon was somewhat of a guardian to Junhee. A mentor more like. If Hakyeon wasn't around, Junhee would have been dead already. 

"He's a fantastic actor," Hakyeon said, frowning. "He acted like he didn't know anything."

"I don't think that was acting."

"You think he forgot about you?" Hakyeon chuckled. "Jun-ah, it's impossible to forget about that."

"I-I don't know, he didn't seem to recognize me" Junhee mused. 

"You've changed, normally you would be crying at this point in the conversation" Junhee held back a complaint at that. Normally, he was sensitive. Maybe it was years of traveling that has hardened him. Maybe it was a coping mechanism. Junhee whole-heartedly believes it's the first one. 

"Yeah, I have" Junhee agreed. "He isn't the point of this conversation." Hakyeon made a face. "The point is that you have to keep that girl alive."

"Why?"

"There is a much simpler solution"

"I'm listening"

"Wipe her memory," Junhee said bluntly, "Then burn the book, act like none of this happened."

Hakyeon went quiet, eyebrows furrowed. "You've really changed Park."

Junhee didn't respond and turned back into the cabin. "I'll ask Sanghyuk about Donghun, he should know something."

"Thanks, hyung."

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rushed near the end, sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woojik has other nasty tricks

5 people looked at Junhee expectantly. He was able to convince Hakyeon to not go the harsh route, but his power over the situation ended there. A part of Junhee wanted Hakyeon to wipe Donghun and Yuchan's memory as well. But the words died on his tongue before he could get them out. It would make things less complicated in the long run. 

Now no one was going to get murdered on his watch. That's a first.

"Well? What was the end result?" Sehyoon asked. 

"He just wants to talk to you" Junhee lied, looking at the girl. "Then you'll work something out, maybe go to another planet for a little bit so he could sort out some legal stuff."

"I'm supposed to believe there are courthouses in space?" The girl sneered.

"Yes."

There are courthouses in space. Not traditional ones of course. But, there are judges. A few "lucky ones" from a variety of inter-stellar species are chosen to judge others. Junhee had to go before them once he obtained Woojik. Hakyeon was assigned to him. Assigned seems to be too fancy. Hakyeon was there to make sure Junhee knew the rules and laws of space and time travel. Oddly enough, they are quite strict about it. Humans seldom follow the rules and end up...well, in the void. Quite literally. Since there is no end to space, they created an artificial one. Think of it as an eternal prison. You can't die once you are banished there, so you just stay there forever. 

Or until space collapses in on itself and all that's left is nothing.

Junhee has had his fair share of existential crises. "Just go out there, he won't do anything." The girl huffed before storming out the door. 

"So" Yuchan started, "You guys are time travelers, not really mechanics..."

"Basically" Byeongkwan shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell us beforehand?" Yuchan continued. 

"Like you would've believed us!"

"Still," Yuchan said, pouting. "my mother said to always tell the truth, no matter how silly." Maybe, if Junhee runs fast enough, he can catch Hakyeon as ask him to send Junhee into the void.

"It doesn't make any sense" Donghun complained. "Time travel hasn't even been invented yet, how can you be time traveling?"

Junhee didn't respond. His heartbeat still increased every time he heard Donghun's voice. Stupid. So fucking stupid. Donghun, the one he knew all those years ago, is  _gone._ Junhee shouldn't just give up trying to rebuild what they once had. He should but he won't. He will hold onto every single last strand of hope that he has. His mother complimented him on his optimism and his ability to smile even in tough situations.

She always did.

All the way until the end.

Now it wasn't true anymore. Junhee just remained neutral. Sometimes, little specks of his old-self peeked through. With bright smiles and high laughs. Other times, Junhee has to hold himself back from jumping into a pool of ammonia. It was pathetic. How a failed dinner date changed everything. If Junhee had just stayed on his own none of this would've happened. He wouldn't be holding back tears from the sight of somebody. Why? Why was he chosen to travel across time and space?

Why didn't his father give Woojik to one of his sisters? Then they would have to hold the burden of murdering ev-

Junhee found himself digging his nails into the soft skin of his palm.

Grounding.

"You guys are basically like Doctor Who!" Yuchan cried out in excitement.

"At least the TARDIS could disguise itself as something" Byeongkwan whinged "Woojik can't do that."

"Complain about Woojik once more and I'm sacrificing you to the Coep" Junhee warned, Sehyoon held back a laugh. "You remember what they did to that one foreigner."

Byeongkwan fell silent at that. Junhee looked at Yuchan and Donghun. Now came the hard part. "That guy is taking a long time to talk to that girl." Maybe because they aren't talking? Every think of that Hun?

"They aren't talking," Junhee disclosed "He wiped her memory and burned the book," Blue skies reigned once more. "That's why the storm is gone."

"What!?" Donghun shouted, "That innocent girl just had her memory wiped and you didn't do anything to stop it?" No need for Junhee to restate it, Donghun explained it perfectly. 

"Do you people have no morals?" Yuchan groaned.

"She was in the wrong, it was that or death" Junhee held. 

Hakyeon walked into the cabin, seemingly unaware of the death stares he was getting. "It's finished." Hakyeon had a look in his eyes, and with the barely-there gesture of his hand towards Yuchan and Donghun, Junhee figured out the question.

_Should I wipe their memories too?_

He still had the opportunity.

Byeongkwan looked so cheerful around Yuchan. And it's not like Yuchan was a pain or anything. He was a sweet kid, a tad annoying at all times. So was Byeongkwan. Sehyoon likes him as well.

It was just Donghun. Junhee could be around him. But it was the ever-growing pit of misery that would cause his downfall.

Junhee gave a small shake of his head.

He can deal with this. 

Hakyeon's lips pursed. "Well, I should be going now." And with that, the elder was gone.

"He called humans insignificant but he is one" Donghun commented. Hakyeon wasn't a human. Junhee wasn't sure what the hell he was. He just took the form of a human.

"It's just a vessel" Junhee shot back.

"Then what is he?"

"Don't know."

"Well, you have two new pals to add to your time-traveling squad!" Yuchan cheered. 

"You aren't coming with us," Junhee said, straight-faced. "No way."

"Yes, we are!"

Sehyoon gave a dismissive shrug. Byeongkwan's eyes lit up. "We can't just leave them like this Junhee-hyung! You didn't do that to us."

Junhee heaved a sigh. He couldn't do this. This was putting himself and all of them at great risk. " _You can't afford to get close to people anymore Jun, who knows what could happen?"_

Sorry, Hakyeon.

"Fine." He fought back a smile at Yuchan's cheer. 

"What's our first mission?" Yuchan asked, practically jumping up and down.

"Oh, it's really dangerous," Junhee exaggerated "We're going grocery shopping."

 

5 mouths to feed now. That meant double the groceries. Junhee bought his regular stuff: strawberry yogurt, fruits, and some meat. Byeongkwan usually took care of the vegetables. Sehyoon, whether they asked for it or not, took care of the junk food. Yuchan and Donghun stayed together, wandering down the toiletry aisle. Sehyoon cornered him once Junhee put some apples in his basket. 

"What's going on with you?" Sehyoon demanded. "Is being on Earth making you anxious or something? We don't have to come back here, we can get chicken from that cow-only planet. You know the one with-"

"It's not that" Junhee interrupted. He wasn't in the mood to talk about any of this. Truth be told, he never will be. Sehyoon didn't need to know about any of this. 

"Then what?" Sehyoon retorted, "Seriously Junhee! Is it Donghun-" Yes. "You freaked out when you saw him, did something happen before?" Oh you know, just 4 years of traveling and unforgettable memories, nothing special. "Do you know him?"

"Nope."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying," Junhee said, fingers tightening around the basket handle. "I thought I recognized him, I didn't. It was a mistake."

"You choking and doubling over isn't a fucking accident" Sehyoon sighed.

Byeongkwan walked into the aisle, eyes darting between them. "Donghun-hyung and Yuchan are ready to check out, are you guys....?"

"No-"

"Yeah, we are" Junhee cut off, walking past Byeongkwan towards the cash registers. 

 

Woojik was filled with noise once Junhee managed to get everyone inside. The first attempt, Byeongkwan was left behind. Second attempt, Yuchan. Third, Donghun and Byeongkwan. 

"This is amazing," Yuchan said, eyes wide with wonder. Woojik seemed to hum with content at the compliment. Junhee never knew if Woojik was...real? No, that's not the right way to put it. Woojik is a machine, with an AI. Junhee wondered if Woojik could actually understand things besides the base commands it was programmed with. His father said Woojik was the most adapted to him. Since everyone in his family was taken to Woojik at some point. His sisters and he were brought separately at a young age. Too young to remember it. 

 _"The machine likes you the best Junhee, it even started playing that lullaby your mom sang to you"_ Junhee was chosen to travel and he then gave the "machine" a name. Woojik. 

"You guys need rooms" Junhee decided "Byeongkwan, Sehyoon-hyung, unpack the groceries. I'll get them settled in."

"We-uh, don't need separate rooms" Donghun confessed. "We're..dating...Both of us didn't know how you guys would react." Byeongkwan and Sehyoon let out a laugh while Junhee's chest constricted. Of course, they were dating. Of fucking course. 

"We've seen semiopaque beings get married, don't worry about us being discriminatory" Sehyoon snorted. "Woojik can hook you guys up, it just needs to take measurements so you both can sleep comfortably." A pool of methane has never seemed more appealing. "Jun, can you get Woojik ready?"

With a stiff nod, Junhee walked over towards a control panel. It wasn't like there was going to be a full body scan. Woojik just needed to scan their hands. How it works, Junhee could never figure it out. "Just put your hands there, Woojik will take care of the rest." Blue light glowed beneath Yuchan's palm

"It's not taking Donghun's measurements." Sehyoon pointed out. Junhee held back a gasp. Fuck. "Woojik already has them...? How?"

"It's probably because he and I are around the same height and weight" Junhee blurted out. That was utter bullshit. It was because Donghun had his own separate room for a year here. For the last 3, Donghun and he had remeasured, so a comfortable bed for the two of them could be made. That's why Junhee's bed was so big because it was built for two. "Don't worry about it, the room should be built in 10 minutes or so."

Donghun didn't press further. 

"Sehyoon-hyung, why don't you give them a tour?" Junhee suggested, aware of the look the elder was giving him. "Just, don't take 30 minutes." After the trio walked off, Byeongkwan said he was going to take a small nap and that he'll warm up the chicken he got. 

Junhee stared at the control panels. "Woo, you..you need to stop whatever you've been doing." For Jun's own sanity at this point. "Maybe you're doing this because you can somehow feel that I'm upset, but you just can't. Donghun doesn't remember anything, I don't want to manually remove any data you have on Donghun..so please, don't make me."

Woojik's humming came to a halt. Junhee bit his lip, a feeling of guilt taking over for a bit. "I appreciate it.." If Woojik's memory was erased, there would be no other proof that Donghun even knew Junhee. Besides his own memories of course. But, as Junhee is quickly learning, memories can be easily warped.

It was for the best. Donghun seems happy now. Happier with Yuchan. Happy...happier than he was with Junhee maybe. 

God, Junhee really wanted to jump into a pool of ammonia now. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuchan decides on where he wants to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My search history always looks really weird after I write these kinds of chapters.  
> Anyways, this is kind of a filler chapter. I wanted to explain a bit more about Woojik's mechanics and that stuff. The real adventure will be in the next chapter!

Yuchan's enthusiasm to travel beyond the stars was quickly curbed when Junhee said he wasn't allowed to go yet. Junhee, partly, regretted that decision. The week that was supposed to be filled with educating Donghun and Yuchan was mostly filled with complaints. It turned out to be more of a punishment for Junhee than anything. He managed to drill a few points though.

1\. Don't spill liquid on Woojik

2\. Don't bring modern technology to the past

3\. Dress appropriately for a time-period if necessary

4\. DON'T START A WAR WITH AN ALIEN SPECIES

5\. Woojik can understand you, don't talk  ~~shit~~ crap.

Byeongkwan put a sticky note on the fridge with all of the rules in case anyone forgot.

Finally, Monday arrived and Junhee's anguished was supposed to be relieved. Byeongkwan's body decided that today out of all the days, it would be a perfect time to get sick. Sometimes, Byeongkwan can pull through it. If it was just a sore throat and a runny nose. Byeongkwan was  _sick_ though. Like high fever and throwing up sick. 

"Do you think you can take care of him yourself?" Junhee asked Sehyoon, frowning. 

"I've done it before," Sehyoon replied. "Yuchan looks desperate to explore, you can't ruin this now Jun."

"Call me if he gets worse, we can always go to a hospital," Junhee said. "The one in the Leonis System is nice, they really liked Byeongkwan last time he went."

If a Solar System has more than 1 planet, it has a hospital. If even all of its planets are inhabitable, there is always staff there. Because a time-traveling machine isn't always reliable. If you are injured and it breaks down, you'll be dead in hours. If you are from a different solar system, their treatments are free. It's somewhat of a compliment to travel all the way to another solar system because you like their hospital. They are always orbiting around the planet. It's a peace zone as well. That's not saying criminals can hide in there. Hospitals give you a fixed amount of time you're allowed to stay there. 

All three of them have had to go at one point. Whether it be because they caught a foreign illness on a different planet, an injury during a mission or just their human bodies succumbing to exhaustion. Cat-ladies run the hospital in the Leonis System. It was weird for Junhee initially, but he now knows a lot of the employees there.

Sehyoon nodded in agreement. "You call me if you need anything."

 

It was settled then. Sehyoon would stay behind while Junhee gives Donghun and Yuchan a taste of time travel. Not space travel sadly. Sehyoon protested against it, saying it was too early to introduce them to aliens. 

"Is it dangerous?" Donghun hesitated. He was looking at the ground. "I just don't want Chan to get hurt."

"Depends," Junhee started. "Everything is decided down to the millisecond."

"What if something happens?"

"I'll try my best to make sure nothing bad happens."

"But what if something does?" Donghun urged.

"Keep yourself and Yuchan safe." Junhee shrugged.

When they travel to a different time period or planet, most people ignore them. Unless they throw themselves in front of danger, which is often, they won't get in trouble. Junhee understands why Donghun is worried of course, he is dating Yuchan after all.

Dating.

Junhee bites his lip before re-focusing on the task at hand. You have to be oddly specific about time travel. The timing has to be exact, all the way down to the Planck Time. Yuchan hasn't told him where he wants to go yet, but he might as well get all of the complicated stuff over with.

"If we are traveling far into the past...I uh, suggest you guys keep the PDA down." Junhee advised. Donghun's cheeks went bright red before he made a noise of acknowledgment.

Normally Junhee would want to talk more. He is surprised he isn't talking more since it's been so long since he has actually seen the elder. Prior to Donghun's sudden disappearance, Junhee would sometimes go on tangents about rather random things. In the midst of those, he would make eye contact with Donghun, fall silent and then burst out laughing.

No explanation for it really. 

Being with Donghun, it almost felt like home. Now it just felt empty and it was making Junhee dizzy. Recalling old memories was sweet and it caused a warm feeling in his chest. But it also created a knot in the middle of his chest and immense longing. 

"Did you figure out where you want to go?" Donghun's voice breaks him out of his thoughts. He looks at the pair. 

Yuchan beamed at them. "The future!"

"Mind being more specific than that?" 

"When do we start going to other planets?"

"Around 2154," Junhee answered. "We travel to other planets before that but we don't actually start colonizing them until that year." Yuchan nodded, hanging onto every word. "Why then though?"

"Technology has to be super advanced then, right?" Yuchan reminds Junhee of a kid, so easily excitable and so damn cute. Junhee nods in confirmation. "Then humans must be super cool! With flying cars and floating skyscrapers!"

Junhee didn't have the heart to say that civilization wasn't like that at all. The introduction of space travel tore society apart rather than unite them. Traveling to another planet cost much more money than one would anticipate. Only the rich and middle-upper class could afford to leave the disintegrating Earth and find hope elsewhere. The result, as one may guess, wasn't great. Government officials also left, seeing no hope in their countries anymore. Which caused anarchy. 

The crime rate was rampant. Police forces did nothing. They joined in on the "fun" actually. Tall, glittering structures that were built in the glory days of humanity had been burned to the ground. Shabby makeshift homes scattered throughout desolate parts of land were all that was left.

"It's not like that," Junhee informed. "Humanity is in shambles by then."

"Fun," Donghun muttered.

"We can help them!" Yuchan cheered. "That's what you guys do right? Help planets and people in crisis?"

"Yeah but-"

"So, we can help people build up everything again!"

There was no point in arguing. Yuchan was determined to fix the unfixable. Quite literally the unfixable. Humanity was destined to end up like this, trying to alter that course...the outcome would be disastrous. 

"Well, go get ready then," Junhee sighed. "Wear something warm, the climate there is all out of whack and it's probably freezing." Yuchan ran to his room, a bounce to each step. "Donghun stay here for a second."

Donghun looked at him expectantly. "It's probably going to be dangerous. The places we're going aren't exactly protected by the law or anything, so just keep a close eye on Yuchan."

"Will you be okay?"

"Don't worry about me, I can defend myself."

Donghun's lips pursed before nodding and walking to his room. Junhee finished setting up Woojik for the trip. Something in the back of his mind was warning him not to go, saying that he already went to that year before, to that exact location before. Junhee has been to a lot of places, it's hard to keep track. 

He just hoped his intuition was wrong this time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a couple of pictures.

Junhee flopped onto is too-big of a  bed and sighed. He just had to hold on for a few more days until the hyperactive puppy named Yuchan could finally stop bugging him about traveling. But a few days could mean an eternity in other planets. Or it could mean a few passing seconds. Junhee hopes for the latter. Sehyoon kept a close eye on him, annoyingly so.

He liked having Donghun around, as sadistic as it was. If he closed his eyes he could pretend that things were no different. That Donghun would roll his eyes at any joke he makes and roast him for tripping over his own shoelaces. And then kiss his hand and carry him to bed after later nights of working on Woojik. The look of fondness that twinkles in Donghun's eyes isn't made for him anymore.

The bed felt too hot now. Like it was trying to compensate for a human body's lack of presence.

Those pictures had to around here somewhere. Junhee had mindlessly stuffed them away when he couldn't even look at Donghun's face without feeling nauseous. But he knew for a fact that there had to be a handful in his room.

His dresser is messy. Clothes were hastily thrown in there. Junhee promised himself he would sort his life out after the disappearance, but he never got around to accomplishing that goal completely.  

After throwing some old shirts to the floor, he finally found some photos.

He shouldn't be doing this.

Junhee stared at the frail picture in his hands. It was slightly blurry as if Donghun hadn't been thinking straight when taking it. But Junhee can remember the day Donghun took it. Not clear as day, but just enough for his chest to start burning.

 

_"You can't tell me you didn't enjoy it!" Junhee whined._

_"I never said I didn't enjoy it Jun," Donghun clarified. "Scelerisque was a cool planet, the aliens were just a bit odd, that's all."_

_"They are aliens Hun, what do you expect?"_

_Planets were strange. They could defy the laws that humans set for them. Scelerisque was a planet trapped under 40 feet of ice. There was still a thriving species though, just underground. Thermal volcanoes that managed to regulate the temperature quite well were placed all across the land. Junhee decided it was time for a vacation and decided to take Donghun there. Caldium, the alien species proper name, were very welcoming. Despite their strange tradition of eating their own fingers, it was a fine species._

_"I enjoyed seeing you shirtless." Donghun teased, grinning._

_Even if the intent was to relax, traveling to any planet was exhausting. Junhee collapsed onto their bed the moment he reached their bedroom. Donghun quickly joined, wrapping his arms around the younger._

_"Of course you did," Junhee smiled. "What's there not to enjoy?"_

_Junhee didn't force a conversation. He was content with listening to Donghun's heartbeat and the occasional sound from Woojik. That peaceful blankness from his brain can only last for so long._

_He loves Donghun, that much was obvious. But Donghun could be unnecessarily stubborn sometimes. The mission they had before their relaxing vacation was a perfect example of that._

_1304, August 20th was a weird date to look at. Junhee's goal was to prevent some baker's daughter from eating a poisonous mushroom so said baker doesn't kill a high ranking government official which then leads to riots. To prevent such a thing would be ideal. Donghun's goal was far different from his though. Donghun wanted to aggravate a farmer and almost get killed with a sword._

_"You shouldn't aggravate people on trips," Junhee muttered. He could feel Donghun's eyes bear into him. "You could've gotten really hurt from that farmer or even killed if he made it to your-"._

_"I'll be more careful next time." Donghun interrupted, pulling him closer. Junhee tried to bury the thought of Donghun not being with him far away but it wasn't going anywhere. He needed the elder, even if he wanted to admit it or not. Donghun kept him tethered to the Earth, stops him from getting lost in the void of planets and stars. Donghun was more emotional, more prone to cry and feel sympathy for the people they run across in the past and future. Junhee has a logical approach to everything. Breaking down critical information and never rushing to make an uneducated decision. They balance each other out._

_If Donghun wasn't around, Junhee doubts he would still have his humanity left._

_"I'm not going anywhere Junnie, I love you." **Click.**_

 

_liar_

 

It took Jun a bit to realize that he was curled up in a ball and had watery eyes. He wanted to be back in that picture again. Back to washing disposable cups with bottled water and lazy morning kisses.

Donghun is with Yuchan now. He is happy now. Donghun is happy and that's all that matters. Junhee would repeat that mantra in his head until he believed it. If his feelings go away with it as well, there is no downside.

A picture he took of Donghun caught his eye though. One where Donghun is admiring the Milky Way in an empty parking lot at 2 A.M. Fascination and fear filled in the brown orbs. Jun's heart rate picked up a bit.

There was no way he was getting over Donghun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another filler chapter? Oh no!  
> Okay, yes, I know I said the action was going to be in the next chapter but..yeah. Somehow my brain didn't realize that and once I started writing this chapter I couldn't stop.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remnants of humanity are an interesting thing to examine.

A last-minute decision that Junhee made was to take face masks. A decision he surely did not regret once they arrived at their destination. The air quality was well above 300. Even without the cracked screens strewn across decaying buildings displaying the number, one could easily guess it was bad from the smog that settled in the city. The winds, although fast and bone-chilling, did little to reduce the pollutants. 

"Keep your heads down," Junhee whispered, glancing at the old man glaring at them from a rusty bench. "You can always change your mind about where you want to go." This was a terrible place to go. The Italian Renaissance, Han Dynasty, Edo Period or the Spanish Siglo De Ore are all great times to visit. Much better than this anyways.

"I want to help," Yuchan said, eyes crunching up slightly. "All of these people just need some guidance." 

He and Donghun exchanged a look before continuing to walk. Looking around, the entire city looked dead. It was in the middle of the afternoon, but the sun was hidden.  Sanitation wasn't a priority here. The air reeked of sewage and Junhee kept an eye on where he was stepping. Nature took back it's property, growing back onto buildings, abandoned travel pods, and the sidewalks. 

But, there was still a place where people with a ludicrous amount of money. In the city center lies a small collection of homes and apartment buildings. As well as a grocery store and a clothing shop. It's all guarded by high walls and robots in charge of security. A robber or two will occasionally breach the system though, so it isn't totally fool-proof.

You do need a pass to enter. Luckily, Junhee has three of them.

"Channie"- _Junnie-_ "Can't you chose a place a bit nicer?" Donghun complained.

"We are on a mission to help mankind! Not to gawk at the scenery!" 

"There is a better place I want to show you guys," Junhee chimed in. "It's more sanitary." Donghun looked relieved at the statement. 

There was still something in the back on Junhee's mind. Like a warning sign blurred by heavy rains. He knew it was there, something was wrong. It was too faint to properly make out though. 

Junhee continued to lead the way, ignoring some of the threatening calls from the locals. 

 

"This is the safest place here," Junhee explained, gesturing to the culmination of buildings. "If you want to help people, there are a few officials here that can help with that." There are "officials" here that  _should_ be helping. They just get drunk and eat grasshoppers all day. "But for now, just stay close to me, okay?" 

The head robot stood in front of the gate. Its unforgiving eyes glared at the trio walking up. 

"Passes please." Junhee nodded before pulling out the paper slips from his pocket. A faint white light scanned the slips. The robot looked at him before nodding. "You may enter."

Donghun and Yuchan walked ahead of him and they all entered the area. It wasn't a vast improvement but the land and buildings were slightly better kept. The buildings were clearly not high quality but nature hadn't reclaimed it. 

"This is a place of luxury?" Donghun snorted.

"You'd be surprised." Junhee sighed. He didn't have a very clear purpose for being here. Honestly, it was just so Yuchan could stay out of trouble.

A few people gave them hurried looks before continuing on their day. Despite this place being "luxurious" people who stayed here were still underfed. The frigid weather and skimpy clothing didn't aid in the rampant spread of sickness. Junhee could see a few children huddled together for warmth as they made their way to an apartment building.

"Those poor kids." Yuchan pouted.

A rough estimation of the population in this are would be 130 at most. Not many people had money these days and even fewer could keep up with the monthly fees one had to pay to remain here.

And even with that money, this place was total cr-

Oh, hey.

That's a new building.

Junhee never prioritized visiting this place often, unless there was a dire situation occurring. There are a million planets cooler than this, why would Junhee waste his limited time alive here? But, he was pretty confident that there was never a building across from him previously.

With a bit of squinting through the dirt-caked windows, there seemed to a be a bookshelf adjacent to the window.

A library. With all of the money the local officials had, they decided to build a library. Not purchase food for their starving population but rather build a library.

You need to be educated while starving to death.

"Let's go in there," Junhee suggested. "We can beat the cold and maybe do some research on how to help."

Not surprisingly, there were no complaints. Although the library wasn't exactly a full-proof way to escape from the frigid weather. Burts of cold air managed to sneak in the cracks decorating the walls. Most of the bookshelves were vacant and the floors felt like they were about to cave in at any second.

Luxury.

Yuchan bolted off immediately, a bounce to his step as he explored the limited amount of books. 

"How did earth get to this point?" Donghun laughed bitterly. "I should be grateful that this is so far into the future."

"The usual, money and politics," Junhee answered. "Don't stress about it, nothing you can do."

"So how do you do it then? You can't save everyone, how do you deal with the guilt?"

"Meditation is great."

"You seem like the type to meditate and listen to weird noises in the background," Dongun said, smiling. Junhee ignored the pain in his chest.

"Donghun, you know me so well," Junhee replied. He focused on the way the trees looked like they were about to snap in half because of the wind.

He could feel the older's gaze. Inquiring in a sense. It felt like Donghun was trying to read off of him. Trying to piece together information that was there, but just out of reach. "It feels like I do."

 

Yuchan and he spent quite a while discussing the 4 books Yuchan found. Donghun offered his opinion on a few things but remained silent most of the time. The books had their history distorted. Claiming that some "other-worldly" beings caused all of this misfortune.

"Is there really no way to help them?" Yuchan muttered, staring down at the books. 

"Even if there was, I wouldn't mess with fate," Junhee admitted.

"Now I feel like I've wasted an entire trip for nothing."

"Believe me, if you are staying with me, this won't be your only trip."

Junhee shivered as the temperature seemed to drop drastically. He would have to check Woojik's system to see if they got any distress signals. Hopefully, Sehyoon is faring well with taking care of Byeongkwan. He should, they had been roommates for so long before even meeting Junhee. And Byeongkwan should be feeling a bit better by now, hopefully.

"I don't remember where I found the books," Yuchan whispered. 

He could see a flash of fondness in Donghun's eyes for a minute. "We'll be right back." Junhee nodded, before looking around again. Besides them and a librarian that fell asleep on the ground, the building was deserted.

Some people say that right before an accident, time seems to slow down. Your brain tries to desperately capture each moment and commit to memory.

But in Jun's case, time seemed to have sped up. Because just a second ago, he was examing the bookshelves around him and now he was on the ground, ears ringing. The roof collapsed and a bookshelf barely missed his head. Junhee immediately looked for Donghun and Yuchan. Donghun was covering Yuchan's body, their chests were still moving.

Alive.

Smoke rose from the land above the foundation. There seemed to be an attack of some sort but where did it even come from? Woojik would've sent them back if they sensed-

"Donghun! Are you crazy?" Junhee froze at the voice. It wasn't Yuchan's voice, it was his own. He was 100% positive that he didn't say it though. "You could've blown our cover."

Looking at the direction of the noise, his heart stopped. It was Junhee. Technically speaking, it wasn't  _him._ But it was. So, he did travel here previously. And Woojik had the audacity to not warn him.

The..present Donghun? Was that the correct way to identify him? Donghun and Yuchan didn't seem to hear the pair, so that was one less concern. "No 'thank you for saving my life'?"

Junhee scowled, he couldn't afford for anyone to see this.

As quietly as possible, Junhee crawled over to the present Donghun and Yuchan. "Are you guys okay?"

"Never better." Donghun groaned.

Attacks on Earth weren't uncommon for this time period. Junhee just thought they could get lucky and not get attacked this day. Guess not. 

"We're going to get out of here, don't worry about it."

Trying to unlock a phone while breathing in toxic air is more difficult than one might think. After 2 attempts, the phone finally unlocked and Junhee immediately called Sehyoon.

"Hello?"

"You need to teleport us back to Woojik," Junhee coughed. "Something happened, the signal is being interfered with and we can't get back on our own."

"That takes up so much of Woojik's energy though!," Sehyoon protested. "How urgent is it?"

He could see a large figure approaching the barriers. In a few minutes, 'Jun' and 'Donghun' will charge at the lifeform, successfully slaughtering it and ending its reign of terror on Earth for 20 years. Those two figures will be right in eyesight for Donghun and Yuchan to see, something Junhee can't risk. 

"Very urgent!"

"Can you tell me what it is before I waste a shit ton of Woojik's energy?"

"Sehyoon!" Junhee snapped. 

"Jun, you've been so secretive this past week, can you just please tell me what's going on?" Sehyoon pleaded, obviously not understanding how dangerous this all was now. 

"I-I can't, not now. Just teleport us back!" Junhee stammered, the gas was making him tired and sleepy. 

"Jun.."

"Now!"

 

When Woojik teleports someone, they have a precise location of where they are. And, Woojik can direct exactly where they will land once back in the ship. However, when Woojik doesn't have control over who is being teleported, the location and how they land can't be controlled.

That is the exact reason as to why Junhee gets slammed against the walls of the machine. His head pounds in pain and Junhee slips onto the floor. He could hear Sehyoon's frantic voice and Byeongkwan disorientated mumbling.

This will be fun to explain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All errors are mine.  
> Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting so many lovely comments but some of them are on like semi-old stories so I see it and I forget I wrote it.

Junhee must've passed out. Instead of being on the floor, he was wrapped securely in blankets on his bed. Not the worst way to wake up.

"So, are you going to tell me what's up?" Sehyoon's voice came from the doorway. Junhee wanted to pretend he was sleeping, but it was too late. "Or, am I going to have to force it out?"

The light in his room came on. His room was mostly untouched, save for the pair of slippers that were kicked to the other side. The dresser was clean and those godforsaken photos were carefully buried underneath some shirts. No cause for alarm, Sehyoon wouldn't find them. "I just regained consciousnesses and you're already interrogating me?"

"Yes, because if I don't do it now, I won't get an answer ever," Sehyoon replied, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "Donghun and Yuchan aren't hurt, for your information, you took most of the impact."

"Fun," Junhee muttered. "Does Byeongkwan feel any better?"

"He does, stop avoiding the question."

Now, that's just not fair. "What do you want to know?"

Lying wasn't a strong suit of his. This past week was challenging. Any questions Sehyoon would ask would have to be answered with a believable lie. One that Junhee could keep consistent and semi-backup. 

"What happened back on Earth?" Sehyoon started. "Even in distressful situations, you can usually stay calm but you sounded terrified back there."

"Donghun and Yuchan would've gotten hurt," Junhee explained. Give him credit, it wasn't a complete lie. If Yuchan got hurt, chances are Donghun would leave..again. Merely thinking of it got Junhee's heart rate up. He had a strong mind but he wasn't quite sure if he could handle Donghun leaving him twice. "And then they would leave."

"You've grown fond of them quickly," Sehyoon observed. 

"Byeongkwan likes Yuchan a lot, they click really easily," Junhee rushed, blinking away the bits of moisture that had formed in his eyes. "You and Donghun got really close too."

"You seem to like Donghun a lot too," Sehyoon muttered. He got up from the bed and gave Junhee a thumbs-up. "Byeongkwan and I, we really care about you Junhee. We just want you to be happy."

"Likewise."

"Please don't start pushing us away," Sehyoon continued, pleading evident in his tone. "Woojik is by the hospital in the Leonis System. I talked to them and they said it was fine if we stayed here for a bit. The nurses want to check up on you guys."

Junhee nodded in understanding. 

Sehyoon looked like he wanted to say more but retreated from the room with no further words. Junhee's head fell against the pillow again and he stared into the darkness.

 

Junhee's nightmares have evolved. At the beginning of his travels, they were mostly about him dying or being held captive. Being trusted with protecting the universe and its many species was a heavy burden. Sometimes he would overhear teenagers complaining about their test grades and getting into university and felt a pang of envy. Their life was so simple. They were totally oblivious to the larger matters at hand. Junhee wishes he could've been like that. 

Then they started being about-

No, he can't revisit those yet.

He doesn't want to.

They aren't-they aren't necessary to revisit now.

Moving on.

He met Donghun next. His nightmares weren't plagued with death as much as they were with abandonment. Donghun meant a lot to him but they were just friends at that point. Very good friends since it has been Junhee's contact with humans since-

No.

No.

Stop.

They started dating and the death came back quickly. Junhee had lost count of the amount of times he had seen Donghun's dead body. Or, seeing his own dead body, unable to protect Donghun from the horrors that awaited. He would wake quickly, heart racing, but he couldn't move. Sleep paralysis is a bitch. 

Donghun left and Junhee didn't sleep much. The first week he did but no dreams, it was just a few seconds of darkness and then he awoke to his pitiful reality. After that though, Junhee survived on 30-minute naps. Sleep-deprivation had many negative side effects but it was better to focus on his pounding headache than the feeling of loneliness in his heart. 

Byeongkwan and Sehyoon entered his life. He was hostile at the beginning, barely allowing them in past the surface level. Byeongkwan and Sehyoon, damn them, they are both stubborn. Byeongkwan doesn't smile all that much, he has a competitive edge to him. He radiates power. But he allowed Junhee to see a more vulnerable part of him and in turn, Junhee felt obligated to do the same. With Sehyoon, the elder just acted like a solid rock for Junhee. Maybe it was because they were born in the same province but Junhee felt safe around him. 

It wasn't nice seeing their corpses almost every single night. 

And now, seeing Yuchan added to the list of horrors wouldn't be ideal. But his brain loves to torture him for whatever reason.

Maybe he does deserve it.

Junhee could feel the beginning of a nightmare. His body going slack completely, he would be totally powerless when he woke up. And whatever horrifying hallucination that would greet him later when he opened his eyes, it would have complete control over him.

"Hey, don't stare, it's rude!" He could hear Sehyoon scolding from outside his door.

Wait..what?

"There are cat hybrids walking around and you expect for me not to stare!" Donghun hissed.

"Cat-ladies dear, we can understand you."

He could hear his front door open and a..paw on his forehead. 

The cat nurses have arrived. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a shameless plug   
> Follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/berryjunhee?lang=en)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's November 24th, year...well, who keeps track of that? And the cat nurses do their thing.

 

Junhee watched in partial amusement as Yuchan and Donghun gawked at the 4 cat nurses rushing all around Woojik. Was it an odd sight? Yes. 

"You boys need to take better care of yourselves!" The nurse, Mau, had been at the hospital for years at this point. She knew them, minus Yuchan, very well. "You are time travelers, not immortals." Worries about Mau saying much about Donghun's comeback had quickly faded away once she gave him an understanding look. It seems like Hakyeon spread the news to others somewhat quickly. "Who will protect the universe without you guys around?

"I'm sure there will be others," Sehyoon responded.

The 3 other nurses were new. Junhee doesn't recall ever seeing them. "Aziza, Hasina and Bastet are new nurses, isn't that right girls?" The trio nodded. They tended to Byeongkwan, who looked better. He still looked sick. Fair skin paler than normal and eyes unfocused. "I'm here to help them in case anything goes awry and to take care of you, mister Park." Junhee recoiled from the hard stare.

"I blame Woojik for this," Junhee whined. "Their wiring is off."

"And I blame your lack of sleep and stress."

Junhee sighed in defeat. He could see Sehyoon smirk in the background. "Is there any permanent damage?"

"No, you all lucked out, I don't want to see Byeongkwan going on any trips any time soon though!"

"Hey! What, I'm fine!" Byeongkwan squawked.

"Your fever would dare to disagree," Hasina muttered. 

Junhee remained quiet at Mau tended to whatever minor injuries he had obtained. Which just seemed to be a bruised tailbone and a cut on his arm. "You might want to take a rest too."

"That's not happening," Junhee said automatically.

"My word! Don't you boys want to settle down and have a normal life one day?" Mau gasped. "You need to be alive in order to do that, you know that right?"

"Settling down doesn't seem to be in my agenda any time soon," Sehyoon laughed. "Byeongkwan and I are perfectly content traveling with this airhead."

"Listen here-"

"What about you Yuchan? You are too cute to not have someone," Azizia continued, cutting off Junhee's speech. 

"I have Donghun, I should be fine for now!" Yuchan chirped. The trio cooed and continued with their duties. Mau's paw lingered on Junhee's shoulder, a small and silent form of comfort that he honest to god did not want. 

In the end, Byeongkwan was assigned some odd alien medication and more bed rest. Donghun and Yuchan weren't told to do anything besides: "keep being cute!". He swore he could hear Byeongkwan rolling his eyes. Junhee tuned out whatever instructions were given to him, he knew he wasn't going to listen to anything. 

The nurses left, giving them all lollipops for being good patients. 

It was an odd day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why the short chapter? Well, I wanted to include the cat nurses just because I find them to be a cute idea. Also, the next chapter was originally going to be written in this one but I decided against it because the next chapter is going to get the plot moving a bit faster. It contains a lot of information and I didn't want to clutter this simple, light-hearted chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is wrong, so terribly wrong.

To understand Junhee's confusion when he woke up on the November 25th, you must first understand how traveling to a parallel universe works. To put it in the simplest terms possible, you can't just travel to another parallel universe. That much is obvious. People who do those sorts of things, which is a very scarce amount of the population, go through years of training. One wrong move and you'll be a mess of guts and blood in an entirely different universe. Junhee wasn't selected for that training because he already had Woojik and was given the assignment of time and space traveler. Do these people also travel to different planets and other time eras, of course! But their job is a tad bit more difficult than the rest.

Let's continue, shall we?

 

Junhee woke up feeling well rested. A feeling rather uncommon if he was being honest. There were no daunting nightmares or sleep paralysis. He just had a nice rest. Which, immediately set him off. Sehyoon is a robot, in case anyone doesn't know that already. Or so Byeongkwan claims. The man can run on 4 hours of sleep. Junhee, not so much. Sehyoon not waking him up earlier than needed created an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Secondly, his injuries weren't hurting anymore. In fact, the cut on his arm was gone. 

Thirdly, he had a lot more clothes than he remembered. 

Traveling from place to place made Junhee not so conscious of his fashion choices. As long as it fits and could withstand some dirt, he would wear it. And he didn't recognize half of the shirts neatly hung up in a closet-wait, what? He got rid of that closet years ago. Some of the shirts there weren't even his, they were Donghun's. Donghun had taken most of his shirts back when he-

Donghun's shirts were in a closet he got rid of years ago.

The cut on in his arm was gone.

Sehyoon didn't wake him up.

"It's about time you got up," Donghun. That was Donghun's voice. It was Donghun's voice, inside of his bedroom. "Don't tell me Greece took that much out of you."

Donghun had that tone in his voice. Teasing yet warm, a tone that Junhee as of recently only heard being directed towards Yuchan. Speaking of the ball of sunshine, where was he? And most importantly, why was Donghun in his room? 

Junhee stared at him in shock. His brain had shut down. 

"Hey, why are you staring at me like that?" Donghun asked. "Are you finally realizing how amazing your boyfriend is?"

_Boyfriend_

This had to be a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. An incredibly cruel nightmare that won't leave Junhee alone once he wakes up from it. Junhee pinched his arm, hard. But nothing changed. There was no sudden glitch in the room and nothing came out of focus. 

"What?" Junhee finally got out. His throat felt dry. Donghun looked at him for an extra second, as if trying to decipher if Junhee was joking around. Donghun looked virtually the same. His hair was a bit longer. He still looked handsome. "Why are _you_ in here? Where's Yuchan?"

"I live here," Donghun responded, tone deadpan. "Who's Yuchan?"

Junhee bolted out of the room. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan, their rooms should be down the hall. But there are no doors. The hallway's walls are bare. Byeongkwan's room was gone and so was his millions of plushies. Sehyoon's drawings were gone too then. Yuchan and Donghun's shared room was nowhere to be seen.

"Junhee! What's going on?"

"What date is it?" Junhee demanded. Maybe he traveled back in time by accident. By accident! That's near impossible to do! And if he did Woojik would've gone into a state of panic and those alarms would've woken him up! 

"Jun-"

"Tell me!"

"It's November 25th, and in Cygnus A, it's the year 7810," Donghun said, slowly. "Is that really the first thing you think of when you wake up?"

Cygnus A? They never traveled here before. Donghun said something about Greece but the last place they traveled to was Earth, then Donghun vanished. He couldn't have traveled to a different universe, he would be dead before he even reached the other side. So, what could be going on?

Where's Hakyeon when you need him?

 

"Are you going to explain your little breakdown now or what?" Donghun huffed, glaring holes into the back of Junhee's head.

For the past hour Junhee has been going through Woojik's database, trying to find a small semblance of Sehyoon, Byeongkwan and Yuchan's mere existence. Everything turned up empty. Woojik had no clue whose those people were, no information had been put in at all. Junhee couldn't have traveled to another universe on his own, he doesn't have the technology and Woojik can only do so much.

It made no sense, just yesterday he was in his own universe. Miserable for sure but at least he had a clear head.

The universe could be giving him a new chance. A chance to keep Donghun. 

Or it could be a cruel joke.

"I don't know if I can," Junhee sighed, head hanging low in defeat. 

"You can try." 

Explaining everything would take a bit. 

"We have nothing but time, no distress signals for miles."

Explaining everything was weird. Junhee had to keep some things out of course, for his own dignity and for his last string of sanity to remain intact. Still, it was weird talking to Dongun like this. Without the rigid formalities. Because Donghun, this one at the very least, isn't used to Junhee being uptight around him.

"To conclude," Junhee said, taking a deep breath. "I'm from a different universe and I don't know how to get back."

Donghun remained quiet for a minute.

"I forgot about you?"

_Fuck_

Junhee felt a sharp pain shoot up his entire body. Whether it stemmed from the weight Donghun's words carried or the tone of disbelief. All Junhee knew was that it hurt.

"Why..why would you want to go back?" Donghun continued, carefully scanning Junhee's face. "You sound miserable there. I remember you here, I could catch you up on everything." The offer was tempting. To travel with Donghun again was everything Junhee longed for and more. 

"I don't know how this happened though," Junhee whined. "I might wake up tomorrow and be back!" Has time even passed in his original world? What if everything is frozen back there? That would be a whole new mess to deal with. 

"You might as well enjoy it while you can then."

This Donghun isn't used to him though.

If this Donghun doesn't accept him, then all of Junhee's fears will be recognized. 

"I'm just going to wait it out," Junhee decided, he walked away from Woojik's mainframe. This area looked different. It looked neater, Donghun was always neat. Everything was well organized. A few picture frames here and there. It looked just like how it did before Donghun disappeared.

Junhee wanted to know why Donghun left. So abruptly and without a word. But he can't, not now.

All he has to do is play the waiting game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that happened.

**Author's Note:**

> I was having writers' block for the rest of my stories. So as I finished my 20th cookie, this idea came to me.


End file.
